Suspect in Greenwood fires has history of arson

68 arsons reported in area in past two years; police unsure of extent of suspect's involvement

LEVI PULKKINE, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

By LEVI PULKKINEN, AUBREY COHEN AND VANESSA HO, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Updated 10:00 pm, Thursday, November 12, 2009

Firefighters from Shoreline, Kirkland, Bothell, Northshore, Seattle, and other departments battle a three-alarm fire in a vacant building on Aurora Avenue North in Shoreline. The fire, which burned for hours, shut down traffic on Aurora through the night. A man arrested nearby is a suspect in other fires in the Greenwood neighborhood.
Photo: Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com

Firefighters from Shoreline, Kirkland, Bothell, Northshore,...

Arson suspect Kevin Todd Swalwell appears before a judge at the King County Correctional Facility on Saturday November 14, 2009 in Seattle. Bail for the alleged serial arsonist was set at $1 million. (Joshua Trujillo, Seattlepi.com)
Photo: Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com

Arson suspect Kevin Todd Swalwell appears before a judge at the...

From left, Assistant Fire Chief A.D. Vickery, Deputy Police Chief Clark Kimerer, ATF Special Agent Kelvin Crenshaw and Assistant Seattle Police Chief Paul Mcdonagh address members of the media during a press conference on Friday at Seattle Police Headquarters in downtown Seattle, where they announced they had arrested a suspect in the rash of recent fires in Seattle's Greenwood Neighborhood.
Photo: Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com

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Investigators attempting to stop the string of arsons that had rattled North Seattle residents in recent weeks offered two startling announcements Friday.

The string of arsons in and around the Greenwood neighborhood was much, much longer than authorities had previously indicated publicly, with 68 reported arsons in the past two years.

And the man authorities claim was behind some, if not most, of the set fires is convicted arsonist Kevin Todd Swalwell, a transient who spent at least 12 of the past 26 years in prison on arson convictions.

Bail for Swalwell was set at $1 million Saturday. His next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 17.

Announcing Swalwell's arrest Friday alongside Seattle police and fire officials, Kelvin Crenshaw, special agent-in-charge with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for Seattle, noted that each set fire posed a threat to human life.

"Any time a community is a victim of such a crime as arson, the loss of human life is a distinct possibility. Arsonists such as Kevin Swalwell can't predict the violence or the rate at which the fire progresses.

"Every time he strikes that match, it leaves human lives hanging in the building."

Swalwell, 46, had been in the cross hairs of a multi-jurisdictional task force charged with investigating the arson string for some time prior to his arrest Friday, said Paul McDonagh, an acting assistant chief with Seattle police.

Task force personnel heading to the early morning fire at a vacant furniture store in the 16500-block of Aurora Avenue North in Shoreline spotted Swalwell, who had been seen near three earlier fires, walking nearby, McDonagh said. Police called to the location arrested Swalwell, who was booked into King County Jail on suspicion of arson.

King County prosecutors secured an order of probable cause Friday evening, allowing authorities to hold Swalwell until a Tuesday charging deadline.

In court documents, investigators describe two incidents in which Swalwell is suspected.

On Aug. 13, investigators claim, Swalwell started a fire outside a house in the 100 block of Northwest 84th Street.

"This fire resulted in burn injuries to the male resident who was forced to flee or die," Detective John Lewitt said in court documents.

Police allegedly matched handprints recovered from a lighter fluid container left near the scene to Swalwell.

In an incident Monday, police contend Swalwell was caught on a surveillance camera at the Olive You restaurant in the 8500 block of Greenwood Avenue North. At the same time, a fire caught on an outside wall of the restaurant.

Police contend Swalwell has admitted to starting both fires, as well as several others. Additional details were not provided in court filings.

Swalwell had been under Department of Corrections supervision in recent years, following a 2006 conviction on drug charges. As he has been for much of his life, according to court records, Swalwell did not have a fixed address.

News of the arson string prompted a community corrections officer to call a Seattle police detective on Monday to alert him of the Swalwell's arson history, Corrections spokesman Chad Lewis said.

"They said, 'We're looking at him already,' and they asked us to continue as normal," Lewis said.

Court records show Swalwell to be a man with a long history of playing with fire.

At age 19, Swalwell was arrested after a set fire burned through a North Seattle home, according to court documents. Police discovered that gold and coins had been removed from the home prior to the blaze.

Confronted by police, the then-teenage Swalwell admitted to starting the fire to cover up the burglary. The homeowner, he said, was an acquaintance who he knew to be on vacation at the time.

Swalwell was released from prison in 1987, having served five years of a 10-year sentence. Though he had numerous run-ins with law enforcement in the years that followed, he did not face another arson charge until July 1995.

Police arrested Swalwell after a string of four fires at the Echo Lake Apartments, an Aurora Avenue North complex where Swalwell was living at the time. In one instance, police claimed in court documents, Swalwell left a threatening note hours before a fire erupted inside a vacant unit.

"You're going to die in a fire tonight," Swalwell wrote, hours before the fourth and final fire was sparked at the apartment. Four residents were injured in the string of fires.

King County prosecutors also charged Swalwell in a February 1994 fire. In that case, like the 1982 fire, Swalwell stood accused of lighting a fire in a North Seattle home of residents who were vacationing at the time.

Swalwell pleaded guilty to all charges in that case. Sentenced to a 10-year prison term, he served seven years.

As they remained in the earlier cases, authorities addressing the new allegations against Swalwell offered little as to what may have motivated the attacks.

Speaking Friday, McDonagh said Swalwell had spoken with detectives following his arrest but declined to elaborate on the substance of his statements. McDonagh said no indication of motive has been offered.

Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, a police spokesman, said Swalwell is suspected in a number of the North Seattle arsons but declined to specify which of the blazes Swalwell is thought to have set.

While police and fire officials stressed that residents should remain vigilant for any suspicious behavior, Deputy Chief Clark Kimerer acknowledged that Swalwell's arrest should come as a relief to Greenwood residents.

"This crime spree has struck such fear into the hearts of law-abiding citizens," Kimerer said. "Our main motive (now) is to build the best possible case."

Greenwood business owners expressed cautious relief at news of the arrest.

"We're ecstatic, if it's the correct person," said Meridee Kortan, who owns Antika antiques store at 8421 Greenwood Ave. N. with her husband, Fevzi. "It should relieve some of the stress that we've been dealing with."

Fevzi Kortan at one point had planned to sleep in the store until the arsonist was caught, but reconsidered at the behest of firefighters, Meridee said.

"The Fire Department strongly discouraged business owners from doing that," she said. "The only thing we could really do was just leave lots of lights on and try to be vigilant about security."

Scott Nolte, producing artistic director for Taproot Theatre, at 204 N. 85th St., said it would be a "big relief" to know the arsonist was in custody.

"So many of the businesses around here on are pins and needles with just the fear that they could be next," he said. "If this is the guy and we know that it's the end of this chapter, than I think that businesses and the community can really move toward healing and stop living on the edge of fear."

The theater suffered about $1 million in damage in the Oct. 23 arson fire, which also destroyed a neighboring commercial building the theater owned.

"There's no scrap of carpet, there's no cabinet, there's not a toilet or a chair left inside of the theater, and the majority of the sheetrock has been removed so that the walls can dry out or the ceiling can dry out," Nolte said. He's hoping renovations and repairs can be done by mid January, avoiding major disruption to the 2010 season.

The theater also has started planning for what to do with its neighboring site, he said. "We can't leave this scar at the crossroads of Greenwood just sitting there."

Swalwell is expected to appear Saturday in King County District Court at the King County Jail for an initial hearing. Prosecutors have until Tuesday to file charges in the case.

Arson is a "strike" offense under the state's "three-strikes" law. As such, a conviction on such a charge could mean a mandatory life sentence for Swalwell.